Long time no see!

I still don't have internet at my house, so I'm still way behind on everyone's news. I just haven't really had the time or want to set it up yet. I think I'm finally going to AT&T on Sunday to see about getting it set up.

Anyway, life in the new place is pretty awesome. Palo Alto is a beautiful town. The downtown area reminds me so much of Berkeley. The trees change color here! It's been a long time since I've seen that. Even in Antioch, we had evergreens or Palms or something that didn't reflect the changing of the seasons. I am taken aback everyday I go to the bank and drive down the streets lined in yellow, orange, and red trees.

Living alone is nice. My apartment is just 1 bedroom, but I like it that way. There's not as much room to get messy. LOL. Although I do still have about 6 or 7 boxes in my dining area that need to be unpacked. I do have my Christmas decorations up, though! I've got priorities, man! LOL.

Mostly I've been connected to the outside world via Twitter. Occasionally I'm able to get online at Starbucks (like now), or at my parents house, but both are few and far between. In fact, I think this is only the 3rd time I've been online to check email and stuff since I moved down on the 20th of November. It's kind of nice not to be so attached, to be quite honest. LOL.

I've been trying to explore here and there. I found Walmart and Target. I also found a tiny Safeway a couple miles away as well as 2 Trader Joe's. I do have a Mi Puebla grocery store just down the street. I need to go in there and see what Mexican goodies I can find. =o) I'm not too far from Stanford, so I can easily find my way to mix and mingle with the college students. I ran into some 2 nights ago while trying to find a take out place to get dinner. I could definitely pick up a college man while I live here. ;o) I guess that probably makes me a cougar. LOL. Oh well. ;o)

Even when I get my internet access at home, I'm still going to make an effort to get out so I can attempt to make a friend of some kind. Hopefully that won't be too hard. People out here seem really nice. I like that. I'm tired of mean people. LOL.

I'm also looking for a church. It looks like I'll be having Sundays and Mondays as my regular days off, so that'll make it easy for me to go to Sunday Services. A friend of a friend lives one town over and I've asked her advice and help. She's very spiritual and religious, so I'm sure she'll have some insight. I can't really explain my need to find church, but it's there and I need to do it. The good thing is that there are about 15 churches in Downtown Palo Alto. LOL. I think I've found one I liked (online research) and need to work up the courage to go on Sunday. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway...I've been here over an hour now and need to get home and have some dinner. Hope you're all doing well! I'll catch up with you all very soon.

Teenage Dream

I am so far behind with blog reading. I moved into my parents house on October 9t or 10th, I think, and moved into my new apartment last weekend. I haven't had much internet time and don't even have a connection at my new house yet. I have to get DirectTV for my cable and have to get a separate phone/internet account. I haven't had time to do that yet. When I get back online at home, I'll get you a full update. The last 5 weeks have been an adventure to say the least. Hope you are all well. I'll catch up when I can.

Home is where the heart is

and currently my heart resides in Concord. In my mom's craft room.

Technically I am homeless as I do not have a permanent address. Thankfully my parents are freakin awesome and are taking me in for a month until I start work at my new store.

Yes, I said new store! I got promoted and will be the resident Property Manager down in Palo Alto. Know who my neighbors are? Stanford and NASA!! Both are within about 5 miles from my store. When I'm down there, I feel my IQ getting higher. LOL. I told my dad that I'm going to hang out in libraries and meet someone smart. LOL

Currently all my stuff resides in a 10x20 storage unit at my new facility. It's weird to think my entire life is packed in boxes and is sitting in, essentially, a garage. I officially take that store in about a month. I'm staying with my current district and store until my DM hires and trains someone new. The sooner the better! LOL. But for now, I'll be sleeping on an air mattress in my mom's craft room and eating homemade food and saving a bunch of money on gas.

For those wondering why I had to move in with my parents this month - Jenn got her other job. She gave me notice last Wednesday and Saturday was the ONLY day I could move before her last day which is this coming Friday. It wasn't very much notice, but oh well, things worked out since I got my new job offer the same day. Plus my mom's been wanting me to hang around more often and now she doesn't have a choice! LOL.

I spent last Thursday and Friday packing, setting up my storage unit, and moving (moving with my dad's help. He's the bomb!!). I'm so freakin exhausted, it's ridiculous (STILL! 3 days later! lol). I do have to go back to the old apartment and clean up a few last things. That'll get done on Thursday, when I have a day off again.

Anyway..that's the newest from me! Hopefully I don't kill my mother at any point over the next month. LOL.

It's been a while...

Wow, I haven't updated in a long time. Oops. LOL.

Well, right now I've got a few things up in the air regarding employment. I've interviewed at Vans for a position there. I want the Assistant Manager position that they're going to make available soon, but the District Manager doesn't think I'm qualified because I don't have retail management experience. I think that's BS because I've got 3 years experience as a Store Manager of storage facilities and training and managing staff. Whatever.

I did get a call from an old supervisor who says he's going to ask around and help me find something. If I don't hear back from him by Thursday, I'm giving him a call again. It's for a very large storage company I used to work for, so I just have to hold out and possibly relocate, but that's OK with me...but sooner is better.

On the vehicle front, my dad just bought a car today from the dealer he works for and is selling me his truck. Woo hoo!! I've wanted to buy his truck from him for a long time, so this is so awesome for me! It's also a double bonus because I get to make payments to him on a vehicle I know is reliable. Yay!

In other news, Jenn's moving out on Sunday and I'll have this place to myself. She's still applying like crazy to other companies, so who knows when she'll find something else, hence the reason I need that storage job to come through fast. lol.

So some good news, some wait-and-see news, but all in all, things are going pretty well right now. =o)

Oh yeah...I chopped about 4" off my hair today. I've been growing it out for years and it was at my bra line finally, but now it's just below my shoulders. I couldn't handle it! LOL.

And...that's about it. LOL.

Interviews suck, but I rocked this one.

At 1pm today, I had a phone interview with the Director of Operations for a storage company in Las Vegas. It went extremely well. I really asserted myself and showcased my skills as a manager in order to get a resident manager position with the company instead of just a relief manager position. The DOO really liked me and is going to see what he can do to put me directly into a store. Luckily 2 resident managers just gave notice to quit, so that helps me greatly.

I think this was one of the best interviews I've ever had. Having it over the phone (and being dressed in pajamas) was awesome because there was no intimidation factor. I was able to get out what I needed to say and not get flustered.

I'm not too jazzed about the hourly pay rate, but there does seem to be a great bonus program that will help off-set it.

Worst case scenario, if I can't get directly into a store right away, I may accept a relief position on a short term basis (a month or 2 tops) before moving into a resident manager position. If that's the case, I'm begging my friend Joyce to live with her until I get my place. :::doe eyes::: Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

Best case scenario, I get in there at the beginning of March and get a resident manager position right away and don't have to put anyone out.

I do still need to get a car and since I'd have to pay to move myself there (they don't pay to relocate), I'll only have about $500 to spend (moving is going to cost about $500). I'll probably have to ask my dad for some money, but I'll be able to pay him back with my first couple of paychecks.

In any case, it really looks like I'll be a Las Vegas resident by April. Yay! =o)

Cross your fingers for me!!

We're in the home stretch

We finally have a move date!! The old managers at Jenn's new property turned in their keys yesterday. They are finally out! This week the apartment will be cleaned, then we get to move in next Sunday and Monday. I'm so excited. Jenn finally saw the apartment today. It's 2b/2ba. That's so exciting. I will be so happy to have a second bathroom. This means no more fighting over who gets to take baths first (or in some cases at all) - we both love night time baths. There are somewhat new appliances in the kitchen (they're probably less than 5 years old, I'm guessing). There's a patio off the 2nd bedroom and a small patio off the kitchen/dining room. I cannot wait to see it.

So this week is also my last week of work. I'm off today, then have 3 days of work making Friday my last day. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. My dad gave me a heads up on a job in Walnut Creek - a new car dealership is opening soon (for the Smart Car) and is looking for all positions - office positions, sales, parts, service, etc. I qualify for office and parts, so it wouldn't hurt to put in my resume. The only hard part is that I'd have to use Jenn's car until I was able to buy one myself. This would leave her without a car. But my dad did also say that it's near the Walnut Creek BART station, so Jenn could just drop me off at the Pittsburg/Bay Point station in the mornings and pick me up at night. But that'll get worked out if I get the job. It would be a great job for me to get right now since I need to have medical insurance and the full time pay (I'm sure I'll make a minimum of $12 in any position, but more likely it'll be closer to $14 or $15).

Anyway, today I'm cleaning house and getting the last of our stuff packed up. I hate packing, but this is crunch time! Of course it doesn't help that we're having a heatwave and it feels like it's 80 degrees in the house.


In baby news - no news yet, actually. Yesterday I had a pretty bad migraine. It's been a while since I had one bad enough to completely incapacitate me, but I had to leave work early and spent the rest of the day in bed with a towel over my eyes (and a baggie of ice wrapped in it to keep my head cool). I completely expected to wake up to my period today because headaches/migraines are symptoms of my period coming the next day. I am a little crampy, but that's actually lasted a couple days.

I'm not even going to consider either side of this thing until this weekend. Today is only day 27 in my cycle - that's the earliest my period has ever come - so my period still may not even show up until as late as Tuesday (day 34 of my cycle - the longest my cycle has ever been). I think I will take an HPT on Saturday, though, if my period still hasn't shown up. But now that I've talked about it, my period will show up later this afternoon. LOL. That's just how life is for me.

Well, I've got to get back to cleaning, so think good baby thoughts for me!!

impatient!

I'm such an impatient person! I also hate monotony. I'm only 2 days into the OPKs and I'm bored with them already. They're almost more disappointing than getting negative HPTs. I don't think I'm ovulating until Friday or Saturday anyway, but I figured I'd start early and watch the OPK to see when I really do ovulate. It'll be interesting. We think it's Cycle Day 19, which is Saturday. By the looks of my temperatures over the last 8 months, I thought I was ovulating twice - at CD13 and CD 19, but Jenn thought 19 was more accurate. I started the OPK at day 14 and it showed nothing, so hopefully Jenn's right.

There's also been talk now of moving to just outside Medford, OR with our friend R. She used to date Jenn and has become a very close friend of mine over the last 7 months. She's also trying to get preggo. The three of us are very fed up with the company we work for (which I'm leaving in about 5 weeks) and thought it'd be cool to go live on R's parent's "farm" in Oregon. It's a 3 bedroom house sitting on 4 acres. There's goats, feral cats, a koi pond. I've been wanting a way to start over and get away from the stresses and bad memories here. I want new memories. Happy memories.

Tonight we're going out to R's house to talk about things and just hang out. She lives about 90 miles from us, so we don't see each other that often - once a month if we're lucky. I'm excited. I really want this to work out. It'll be just us 3 girls and our kids. No drama. Just goats.